Apricot and peach cutter.



A. L. MORTON.

APRICOT AND PEACH CUTTER. APPLICATION FILED OGT.16,1911.

1 83,446. Patented July 23, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. L. MORTON.

APRICOT AND PEACH CUTTER. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 16, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wi l? Patented July 23, 1912;

ARTHUR L. MORTON, F MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA.

APRICOT AND PEACH CUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. July 23, 1912-.

, Application filed October 16, 1911. Serial No. 654,875.

To all IL/L07)I/ 2'25 may concern:

Beit known that I, ARTHUR L. MORTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mountain View, in the county of Santa 'Clara and State of California, have inprovide a machine of large capacity, wherein certain fruit mayheprearranged for the operation of slitting or cutting; to provide improved cutting knives, whereby the fruit is sliced or severed into two substantially equal parts, and by which the fruit is also pitted; and to provide an apparatus having the function of separating the pits from the meat of the fruit and conveying the fruit meat to, and placing it compactly upon,.a drying or other tray.

It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus by which the fruit, which may be fed into a hopper, will ultiniately be delivered with its fiat or cut surface upward upon a tray on which the fruit may be transported to the drier or other place.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan view .he machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation ofthe machine.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the positioning and cutting mechanism. Fig. 41 is an enlarged detail view of the-apricotturning structure. Fig. 5 is a section of the fruit adjusting and feeding throat. Fig. 6 shows the cutter in diagram. Fig. '5 is a perspective view of the pit and fruit separating strips.

It is a desideratuni to provide a simple, yet reliable, machine for the handling of peaches, apricots and certain other fruit in large quantities, in such a manner to most inexpensively prepare them for subsequent operations, suchas drying, etc, and in the present construction i have shown the ap parat-us as comprising a suitable frame 2 of the desired design and proportions, having at its feed end a slightly inclined hopper or edges of the channels 7.

plate 3, upon which may be promiscuously placed the fruit to be operated upon. The incline of the hopper 3 will be suificient normally to cause the fruit to roll into a sepa rator 4 formedwith a plurality of parallel channels or grooves 5, and from the separator i the fruit rolls onto a peculiarly designed feeding device or carrier 6.formed with a number of channels 7 substantially alined with the channels of the separator 4.

A portion of the channels of the carrier or feeder 6 is formed with a peculiar curved structure, indicated at 8, the function of, which is to rotate or adjust certain fruits, such as apricots, so that the peripheral crease existing in this particular fruit will A be caused to arrange itself substantially in line with the axis of the feeder channels 7, and thereafter when leaving the adjusting portions 8, the fruit will travel in a straight line down the feeder G'with the crease mentioned substantially central between the top The corrugated feeder 6 is preferably reciprocated, so as to cause the fruit to advance in certain regular, intermittent steps and be discharged from. the lower end'of the feeder into a portion of the apparatus in 1 which are mounted a plurality of knivesor cutters 9 and 10, which are respectively arranged in parallel relation upon shafts 11 and 12. Upon the ends of the shaft 11 are secured cranks 13, upon which are mounted pitmen 1'4 connected to pins 15 whichare secured to a transverse bar or shaft 16 fastened to the feeder 6; the latter being sup ported to slide or reciprocate upon bearings 17 appropriately secured to the frame 2.

Motion is imparted to the cutter shaft 11 hy-means of a gear 18 secured on one end, and which gear derives power from another gear 19 of similar proportion which is secured upon the parallel cutter shaft 12; the f (l latter shaft in the present instance shown as being mounted in a plane somewhat higher than that of the shaft 12. The-gear 19 of the shaft 12 is in mesh with and driven by the niaster'gear 20 secured upon a driving, shaft 21, upon the opposite end of which may be mounted asuitable wheel, gear, or crank, as 22, whereby powermay be-ap )lied to drive the shaft 21. As. the fruit is siifted or fed in substantially continuous rows across the apparatus, it falls substantially between the shafts 11 and 12 and upon that particular set of cutters which'isalined "With the center oft' the channel 7 of the feeder the cutters revolve, the fruitwhich upon their ed is gradually slit or cut I ie inrolutc edpcs a of the cutters, which es terminate in radial shoulders 7). The cutters rotate so that the shoulders 6 move toward each other and Will meet centrally and slightly overlap between the shafts 11 and 152. At the instant oi? overlapping of the shtmlders b of the cutters they will encounter the pit of the fruitivhich has been cutby the gradual rotation of the cutters. The pieces of the fruit will rest upon a sectional platform or support formed of a pin rulity of tongues 523 having. hook ends 24:, which are placed over and rest upon the upper shaft 12. The lower ends of the tongues 23 rest upon. a bracket or support 25' secured to a transverse diaphragm or apron :26 mmintedv in the frame substantially below the cutters. The tongues 23, which go to term a snp iort lfor the slices of the fruit after they are severed by the knives are each n-ovided on side edges With recesses or notches c which form, when the tongues 23 are placed edge to edge, openings (Z through which til-ii pit oi? the fruit is forced when it encountered by the coinciding and overlap- .conveye r belt ping shouldinfs 7) of the cutters. After the fruit has been severed and the pits forced throng! the discharge opening (Z, thepils drop onto a discharge trough 27 and the severed sections of the fruit slide down the l lllitl'l Ol'll'l formed of the tongues 23, and tall through ope iit in. the bracket and. thence on to tie diiirphra gm or apron 26 down hich they slide haphazardly and on which i ey accumulate; the lowermost tions or the fruit being pressed against the surtace o an upwardly traveling conveyor upon. which are attached a number accth transversely disposed slats 29.

n actual practice the slats 29 are quite n and. l. have 'ioiiind that inch thickaio 'ile. is they pass beneath the aced fruit in the apron $36 the latter tumbled or rolledv until eventually urtaccs ot the sections of 'truit are into flat contact. with the upper surthe upwardly traveling: stretch of the ironveyer i323, and when the flat surfaces so upon the conveyor 25%, the edge olf each ion ot lruit will be encountered by the iii), and as ast as the 'lruit sec- 1 :d llativise they will be carried upwardly resting; against the edge of the thin slots 29. 'lihe lower end of the convc}; runs around a suitable drum or cylinder iii mounted upon a shatt Ell. which. is (.lriven by the sprocket gear train o2, the driving sprocl ict n'ien'iber 33 of which is secured upon. the main drive shaft 21.. The 28 is shown as being arranged. at an incline and its upper end passes over a drum o1."'cylinder 3i mounted on a suitable shaft As the belt turns around the cylinder et, the fruit sections are discharged therefrom upon an inclined platform or chute 36, which may he of sheet iron, and the upper end of this brought into close juxtaposition With the surface of the fruit lifting belt 28. The sections of fruit discharged from the belt slide down the chute 36 and accumulate at its lower end in com pact, continuously arranged though fiat mass the lowermost section of the fruit being); picked up in a continuous transverse row by a conveyer belt 3'7 which runs be neath the lower end of the chute 36 and is supported upon a driving cylinder or drum 38 carried by the shatt 39 and also sup- 1017 the sliced fruit has been severed and the sections conveyed in. proper position to the chute and from the chute delivered upon a conveyor 3?, the sections of nit are uniforinly and positively delivered onto the tray or other device with the flat surfaces ot the fruit sections uppermost. This means comprises in the present inaanciji the cariyingg' belt 37 and the cylinder el-t) around which it travels, and also involves a semi cal shell or hood 46, which is mount o upon a shaft t? carrying the drum. or cylinder 4:0 and the surface oi? the hood is prcferal'ilv just sullieiently distant from, and concentric with, the cylinder 40 so as to positively relain the iruit sections with. their tacos against the surface of the belt or conveycr '37 while the are being carried around the cylinder ill. .rhus the hood. ll) has the lune tion of preventing the slip dislod rnient or own-turning oi? the ij'rurt sec i ns while they are carried around and until they are eventually depositel on to the tray elfl by slipping oil the lower transverse edge f of the hood 41f the peculiar .lcl:itionsliij'; ot the chute 36 onto which the sections oi. fruit are dis ha l out the conveyor 2S and the position the conveyor 37, upon which successive transverse rows of fruit sections are receiveth it is insured that the tray will he compactly tilled with. sections o't itrnit arranged in transverse rows; all of the sections being planted. face up, that is, wit the cut surfaces uppernmst.

'1 his apparatus is designi d. particularly to fill trays, such as ltl, which are portable and easily transferable from one position to are other or to some subset uent uppz tus inserted endwise beneath the cylinder 40,

and then when the clutch 44 is thrown to engage the sprocketwheel 41, the conveyer 37 will be driven and the fruit collected from the chute 36. As the front end of the tray 48 is inserted beneath the cylinder 40, the latter'is lifted so as to clear the end of the tray by depressing a lever .49 fulcrumed at 50 and connected by, the link 5l;to the cylinder shaft a7, .thus lifting the cylinder 40 and the hood't6 sufiiciently high to clear the end of the tray. After this has been done the lever 49 is released to allow the lower edge f of the guiding hood 46 to come down into position just above the front end of the bottom. of ,the tray 4:8, then as the fruit is fed by; the conveyer 37 through the hood 4E6, itis discharged in successive rows on the tray 48. The tray is automatically 1 advanced during the filling by means of r0llcarryv fruit sections 1 hood 46, the friction of the tray l8.

ers 52 secured upon the drum shaft 47, and which rollers 52 rest upon the vertical sides Thus, it will be seen that as long-as the conveyer belt 37 is operative to through the reversing wheels 52 resting upon theiedges of the tray 48 Will cause this to gradually advance to provide room for the succeeding rows of fruit. An accumulation of downturned sections of fruit is insured at the lower end of the chute 36 by speeding up the conveyer so that carry a sufficient number of sections to cause them to collect at the lower end of the chute 36 with greater rapidity then they can be carried away by the reversing conveyer 37. After a tray has been entirely filled withfruit sections the operator simply depresses the lever .49 to lift the reversing hood 46 sufficiently to clear the side Walls of the tray this will always 48, and the lattercan then be removed without interference from the apparatus and conveyed to some other point.

The operator unclutches the shaft 39 to stop belt 37 when the tray is to be removed.- I

. Having'thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1 1. A fruit slicing and pitting machine comprising 'a feeding mechanism having channels for the passage of the fruit, sets of cutters arranged in parallelism and parallel shafts for the cutters, said channels constructed to automatically position the fruit with its crease presented to the cutters, a supporting" platform holding the fruit while being cut, said platform having pit discharge -op enings,'anda receiver for the fruit sections after the pit is removed.

2. A fruit slicing and pitting machine, comprising a feeding mechanism, having channels for the passage of the fruit, sets of cutters arranged in parallelism and shafts upon which the cutters aremounted, said channels constructed to automatically position the fruit with its crease presented to the cutters, a supporting platform holding the fruit While pit discharge openings, a receiver for the fruit sections after the pit is removed, and a convever for the fruit sections.

3. fruit slicing mechanism comprising a pair of cutters arranged substantially in a common plane,

shoulders.

- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses:

ROBERT J. Lewis, A. F. JOHNSON.

being out, said platform. having said cutters having substan tially spiral edges interrupted by radial A THUR L. MORTON. 

